Many integrated circuit (“IC”) devices include optical components. Some of these devices require exposure to a source of light at a point during their operational cycle. Other devices may themselves be a source of light. In many such IC devices, and indeed in most all IC devices, the device must generally be enclosed in a sealed environment to protect it and its associated electrical connections from damage due to exposure to the outside environment. Accordingly, numerous conventional packages for IC devices involve the formation of an optically transparent window or other transparent component that enables light to reach one or more components on the IC device or, conversely, to be emitted by the components and exit the device.
While many of the devices and techniques to provide an optically transparent window in an IC device via a packaging feature have generally worked well in the past, there is a desire to provide more reliable and cost effective ways for packaging IC devices with optical components and, furthermore, means to couple high BW signals into optical transmission media such as optic fiber.